We’re back from our hiatus. We’ve had our battle with Mass Health and we came out victorious. So, it’s time to catch all of you up on what we’ve been reading and doing other than preparing to fight for our right to health care.
More Arts & Crafts
The Office for the Arts at Harvard is holding the annual Ceramic Show & Sale. Details are below and full info is here. I’m hoping that we can make it if only so we can look around.
December 12, Thursday 3-8pm
December 13-15, Friday-Sunday, 10am-7pm
The Ceramics Program of the Office for the Arts at Harvard will present its annual Holiday Show and Sale December 12-15 at 224 Western Avenue, Allston, MA.
The Ceramics Program provides a creative learning environment for Harvard students, staff, and faculty as well as designers, artists, and scholars from the greater Boston and international communities. This December, more than sixty artists will present an extraordinary selection of ceramic work. From functional dinnerware to sculptural masterpieces, this popular exhibition has something for everyone and attracts several thousand visitors each year.
Free cups made by the exhibitors will be available on a first-come, first-served basis during the opening, December 12, Thursday 3-8pm. The Holiday Show and Sale continues Friday through Sunday, December 13-15, Friday-Sunday, 10am-7pm.
The Studio is wheelchair accessible.
Unfortunately I missed the MIT Glass Blowing Sale this year, but it happens twice a year. More details are here.
Happy shopping,
~Kelly
Holiday Arts & Eats at Assembly Row
It’s that time of year again! It’s time to shop locally and stock up on gifts for friends and family. I’m showing my jewelry and vintage goodies in the ASSEMBLED Holiday Arts & Eats show at Assembly Row. It starts tonight at 6:00pm and runs through Sunday. All of the details are below and here. Hope to see you there.
~Kelly
We’re still here
Geoff and I are still here. He’s under the weather and I’m recovering from a little surgery. It was minor and I was in and out of the hospital in under an hour. Geoff has a more long term GI issue and so he’s been feeling a bit down for a while. We’ll be back to our more regular posting soon.
~Kelly
Pork pie – for vegetarians
I promised I would post a picture if I managed to make anything that came out reasonably tasty, and so here you go. This is the Pork Pie recipe from A Feast of Ice and Fire, but made with a “Ground Sausage” from one of those companies that make meat substitutes. It came out delicious, despite my inability to do the top crust correctly (hopefully do better next time).
Anyway, I think I might try something else this week.
Happy Thankgiving everyone! And happy Hannukah too!
-Geoff
My family and the Kennedys
Wow. Fifty years.
It’s hard to describe the relationship I have had with a President who died before I was born, or the way that relationship was shaped even as I grew up in Alabama. But there was, and still is, a relationship. It led me to make speeches in high school that evoked Kennedy’s own speeches on public service. It led me to defend JFK vigorously even when I was still a dumb young Reagan Republican. And it led me to make a point of visiting his grave at Arlington when I finally had the opportunity on a class trip. Where I wept.
Music Jobs and Concerts You Should Know About
We’ve got people hiring and people concertizing. Check these out, Boston area folks.
The Old South Union Congregational Church, of Weymouth, Mass., is seeking a part-time Director of Music (10–12 hours per week) to oversee organ and choral music for worship services and special occasions. Old South is a large, vibrant and growing church on the South Shore with a history of exceptional organ and choir music of many styles and is seeking a candidate with prior experience as Music Director. The candidate should have knowledge of choral and organ literature, and the ability to play the organ and piano at an advanced level. The senior choir numbers 30-40 and the instrument is an Austin organ, Opus 2739 with 3 manuals, 31 ranks and antiphonal stops.
The primary responsibilities of this position are:
1. Coordinates organ and choral music appropriate to the liturgical calendar for performance at weekly and additional services.
2. Direct and play at weekly worship services.
3. Coordinate and oversee rehearsals, direct and accompany the Senior Choir and summer soloists.
4. Provide leadership and support for all aspects of music at the church, including supporting the Youth Choir Director and the choir section leaders.
The salary will be commensurate with the candidate’s education and experience.
Please send inquiries and resumes to Lauri MacKinnon at alexben -at- comcast.net
And next, the performance. This is TONIGHT!
More details can be found here.
~Kelly
The Joy of Medieval Cooking
Thanksgiving is next week, and for those of us who love to cook, this is one of the absolute best times of year. And ever since I decided to explore medieval cuisine, I have been wanting to try new dishes, and so I have been collecting books on the subject (and not just Chelsea and Sariann’s awesome Game of Thrones cookbook). Thank goodness for ABE Books, or else I would never have been able to find many of these, or afford them once I did find them.
A few more stores decide to keep Thanksgiving
Both Apple and Radio Shack have decided to not open on Thanksgiving. Good for them.
Like Kelly had mentioned earlier, too many stores are trying to maximize their profits by extending hours as much as possible on Thanksgiving weekend. And they are doing it at the expense of their lowest-paid employees. It’s not like the CEOs are going to pull a late shift themselves that day. But the CEO class really can’t relate to their employees most of the time anyway.
And the supreme irony of this is that being open longer this Thanksgiving weekend is not likely to make the weekend more profitable. Things sold on Thanksgiving are generally done at the expense of Black Friday sales, rather than generating new sales. It’s not like people who avoid shopping that weekend or on Black Friday will suddenly decide to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day itself.
Of course, I don’t see a lot of people asking the question “what would happen if ordinary people had more money to spend?” either. In fact, there’s no shortage of people who complain about the lack of consumer spending without asking “how are regular people supposed to increase their spending when they are broke?” These same people trash talk the idea of raising the minimum wage while talking about how tough a time the very wealthy have with their taxes. Actually, not so much – especially when you look at the historical patterns.
As one of the broke people, I can definitely say that yeah, if I had a better paying job (or jobs), I would be able to spend more. And we’re trying to get that better job or jobs.
-Geoff
Tacloban, Samar Island, and two very different storms
After more than a week, many survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are still struggling to get basics like food, water and shelter. And places like Samar, Leyte, and Tacloban are now getting mentioned in the news all over the world. Samar and Leyte seem to have been hit the worst from the typhoon.
I know these place names. Not because I have ever been there (I haven’t), but because of their famous place in history – specifically, in the fall of 1944, when the Allied invasion of the Japanese-occupied Philippines led to what was the largest naval battle in all of World War Two, and possibly the largest in recorded human history.
Continue reading “Tacloban, Samar Island, and two very different storms”
The Books are Taking Over... 